1 line threads.

Above Top Secret is “the Internet's most popular destination for news, discussion, and debate on government conspiracies, cover-ups, UFO's, and
other alternative topics.” All of us, members and staff alike have contributed to this site to make it what it is today. ATS has always been about
quality but there is a tread lately that has crept onto the board, the one line thread.

A one line thread is one that starts like this, “Aliens have feet”, or, “Do aliens have feet”? It can be a topic for discussion but there is
little to base any thought on. Some further information as to why this topic is brought up will enable the membership to pause to give this topic some
consideration. Many time members will just blow it off. As always, links help.

We have a tool called the One-Line Warn, members that have been here for a while are familiar with it:

A member of the forum staff, has noticed your one-line or less post in the thread...........

We want to encourage meaningful responses to threads, and discourage simplistic posts. It can become discouraging for new members or guests to wade
through too many short responses, just to get to content that continues the flow of thought.

A token penalty of 20 points has been deducted from your account for this action. Please, in the future, make an attempt to provide more to the flow
of conversation than a simple one-line or less comment.

Sorry for this slight slap-on-the-wrist. Hopefully you take this in the tone intended, as a reminder to make an effort to ensure our content is easy
to read, access, and use by anyone who finds it.

Thank you.

This tool is in place to ensure the quality of material is easy and attractive for all members and visitors. If this is in place for posts,
does it not make sense that there is a greater onus on the author of a thread to provide more information to it to encourage thoughtful
discussion?

ATS is a wonderful site and members working together can only make it better.

i agree with intrepid i think that people should put more meaning into what you want to get to everyone else instead of just trying to earn points and
look like the hot shot with five hundred thou. somethin points

I think it is too easy to post. I understand that you want to ensure that everyone gets heard but clearly some people abuse it. I know I have a few
times. I think a good way to control it would be to make it more more like ATSNN. ATSNN is great because it provides structure for your post.

Proposed new way:
New Post
Summary
Evidence
Opinion

I think it is a good way to prevent this or at least tone down. Plus providing a more structured conversation. You could also change the reply
format too.

I hope my suggestions can help out. I really appreciate this site. What do you think?

Not everything fits into the ATSNN format, though. Some posts lack a rigid structure, but still have a valid argument or point. Not all need to
contain an oppinion, but perhaps a statement of fact or a question posed to members. Over-regulating structure will just lead to frustration and
we'll lose some of the messy-but-valid posts. I can appreciate the rigidity for ATSNN but not for the general board.

I still think signatures disrupt the "flow of thought" of topics and make things far more difficult to read than one line posts do. If the goal is
ease of use and attractiveness for all visitors, then we should ditch those sigs! I often scroll down and read a quote only to discover its a quote
from another post included in a signature. Signatures themselves are often one line - isn't that just as disruptive as a post? How about shading the
signature area differently so they can be easily scanned over when reading a post?

You don't have to have fantastic composition skills, nor does a conspiracy-related topic necessarily need the formal structure of an ATSNN article,
but at the very least it should contain three things:

1. An introduction.
2. A theory, a claim or a question.
3. Reasoning or evidence to support your theory, prove your claim, or provide some basis for discussion of your question.

Simple. And you could probably even still accomplish all of that in under 8 lines in some cases, while still getting the thread of to a good start.

I haven't posted one line threads, I've always tried writing as much as I can.
But now I realise I can't send u2u's so I'm trying to get above 20 posts.
Maybe thats what those people are trying to do also.

Diehard
I've never in my life seen a more ridiculous waste of space. It's like social hour at the chimpanzee habitat on that thread.

Was it really worth it, for everyone to make an ass out of themselves? Did anything change? Of course not. Flinging poo is fun, but the
effectiveness is unquestionably reduced in a digital environment.

I noticed, incidentally and with no small amount of pride, that the ringleader of that moronathon occupied a place of honor on my ignore list for a
few months.

The mods are puppets? Protest ATS? Emoticons in bulk substituting for rational discussion and the exchange of ideas?

I got 20 points zapped for just posting a link that was relevant to the thread, but not making a comment about it. I add what I can to the threads
that interest me, and one line may be all I have to add.

The whole topic is a bit like battling Br'er Rabbit for me. I just cannot let it go.

I'm the same way about caps in titles...and it too, is in the rules and regulations....but is not followed for some reason. I get a lot of flack
because of it....hope you don't get the same for the one you can't let go.......oh the tribulations of peeves! LOL

LadyV, the mods do their best to curb behavior that goes against Terms, including one-liners and ALL CAPS.
Each and every instance will not be noticed by mods. ATS is a very busy forum.

You can remind members to post appropriately, and most do.
SOMETIMES, all caps is what the member had in mind. Sometimes, a few words in all caps stresses what the member wants to say. Granted, it might be
BETTER to do this, but being flexible is a healthy characteristic, no?
I really think the spirit of the rule is for admonishing entire posts and sentences in all-caps, not words here and there.

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